PLATE MARKS. 99 PLATINA. standard mark was a lion's head, and the hall mark a figure of Britannia. The standard mark at Edinburgh is a thistle iAlJ '• at Glasgow, a lion rampant j-^S^h at Dublin, a harp crowned I w' '*^"i t^^ figure 22 added in the case of 22-carat gold. The hall marks of some of the particular assay offices are: London, a leopard's head, crowned up to 1823 ^/ ; Edinburgh, a castle Glasgow, a tree, a fish, and a bell • ^ lin, a figure of Hlbernia sword between three wheat Dub- Chester, a sheaves f^ ■ Birmingham, an anchor In addition, the Sheffield office is designated by a crown ; Ex- eter, by a castle with three towers : York, by five lions on a cross; and Xewcastle, by three castles. The date-marks of the Goldsmith's Hall, Lon- don, which are changed annually on Jlay 30th, are the first 20 letters of the alphabet, each series diti'cring in some slight detail (either in the style of the letter or iu the shape of the shield on which they are placed) from a former series. The date-marks of Birmingham, which are changed annually in July, are also letters of the alphabet. The character of the maker's mark was op- tional up to 1097. when it was fixed as the first three letters of his surname. Since 1739 the mark has been the initials of the maker's Chris- tian name and surname. Watch-cases of foreign make when marked in Great Britain bear special stamps. In Switzerland there are various plate marks, but the regulations concerning them are not comprehensive, and English marks are ac- cepted in place of the Swiss. Bibliography. Consult: Britten, JVafch and Clock-ilfikers' Hundhook (London, 9th ed., 1896) ; Chaflfer, Handbook to Hall Marks on Gold and tfilfcr Plate (ib., 1898): Cripps, Enqlish Plate Marks (ib., 1882) ; id.. Old English Plate (ib., 1886). PLATEN-HALLERMUND, pla'ten hiil'ler- munt, August, Count von ( 1796-183.5). A dis- tinguished German poet, born at Ansbach. Edu- cated in the Corps of Cadets and the Pages' Institute at JIunich, he entered the Bavarian army in 1S14. took part in the campaign of 181.5, but. wearied afterwards by the dreary monotony of garrison duty, he obtained a furlough and, provided with a stipend, devoted himself to philo- logical and philosopliical studies, first at Wiirz- burg (1818-19), then until 182.5 at Erlangen, where Sehelling exercised a lasting influence upon him. He had early turned to Oriental studies and as a fruit thereof published in 1821 Ghaselen, a collection of poems in Oriental forms, which was followed in 1824 by Xeue Ghaselen, botli series winning a favorable comment from Goethe. A visit to Italy in 1824 inspired Sonet te aus Tenedig (1825), the finest collection of sonnets in the German tongue, remarkable for classic beauty of form. Bitterly opposed to Romanticism as he found it, he appears nevertheless under ro- mantic influence in his dramatic poem Der glii- sertie Pantoffel (1824), welded out of the fairy tales of Cinderella and Snowdrop, in the comedy Der Sehats des Rhampsinit (1824), and in his later epic Die Abbassid^n ( 1834), based on stories from the Arabian Sights. The extravagances of Cierman Romanticism, however, kindled his wrath, and he satirized the 'fate tragedy' effectually in Die verhiingnissvoUe Gabel (1826), a fork here taking the place of the dagger by which, in the typical fate tragedy, the family ancestress comes to grief, and a dozen descendants being stabbed by the 'fatal fork' before the close of the drama. The command of language and mastery of versifi- cation distinguishing this literary comedy are even excelled in Der romanfische CEdipus ( 1829), directed more especially against the lack of form in Romanticism and its tendency to experiment with new and unwieldy metres, the chief target of Platen's satire here being Immermann (q.v.), parodied as "Ximmermann." In 1826 Platen had made Italy his permanent home and thence only twice visited his native land. During his last so- journ in Germany in 1833 he publisiicd the histor- ical drama Die Liga ron Cambrai and (Jrschichten dcs Konigreichs Xeapel ron l.'il', his I'l'/S. He died at Syracuse, Sicily. Platen was no genius, but a poet of exquisite taste, whose later verses are models of formal virtuosity in their complex rhythms and technical polish of rhyme. His best biography is to be found in his Tagehiicher, edited by Laubmann and Scheffler (Stuttgart, 1896- 1900). Consult also: Minckwitz. Graf Platen als Mensch und Dichter (Leipzig, 1838) : Gilder- sleeve, Essatjs and .SYwdies (New York, 1890); Besson. Platen, etude biographiqtie et litteraire (Paris, 1894) ; and Greulich, Platens Litteratur- komodien (Bern, 1901). PLATHANDLER, plafhilud-ler. A Dutch name in South Africa for the curious clawed toad {Xinopns calcaratus) , which is distinguished by having strong metatarsal claws and minute eyes. These small frogs, which are tongueless, are peculiarly aquatic, never leaving the water except when forced to change their locality on account of drought or scarcity of food. Specimens have been naturalized in England, where their habits and methods of breeding have been well studied. Consult Gadow, Amphibia and Reptiles (London, 1901). PLATINA, pla-te'na, Baktolommeo de ( 1421- 81). An Italian humanist and historian. He was born at Piadena (Lat. form Platina, hence his name), near Cremona. His family name was Sacchi. In 1464 he became an abbreviator at the Papal courts, but with many of his col- leagues was removed the same year on the acces- sion of the new Pope, Paul II. For his boldness in pleading that the abbreviators held their office for life he was imprisoned for four months, and again in 1468 on the charge of conspiracy. Sixtus IV. appointed him superintendent of the Vatican library in 1475, and he retained the position till his death. At the invitation of Sixtus he wrote the lives of the popes, from Saint Peter to Paul II. inclusive. This work, originally in Latin, was published at Venice in 1479. and has been re- peatedly reprinted and translated. The later por- tions, which rest upon the testimony of contempo- raries and his own experience, are considered the best. The English translation of 1685 was re- vised by Benbam and published in the Ancient
